The movie "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" is evidence of how much more difficult it is for men to get women

[MatureDJ]

This is a movie from the '60s about WW2 in which a man who has always loved fish gets rejected for the Navy (4-F), and wishes he could become a fish ... which he ends up doing, becoming a Navy operative that helps the Navy destroy Nazi German U-boats.

The Incredible Mr. Limpet - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The title character is portrayed by the well-known comic actor Don Knotts, who I think we can all say represented something akin to a StBlackOps2Cel-tier man of his era.



In the movie, he had a wife:



OK, her face is a little off, but she wasn't fat, and presumably neither a single mommy. The point is that, in the current era, would it be possible for any man of Knott's looks to get anything close to a gal like this? This was what the zeitgeist of the post-WW2 was. To be ANY man that wasn't a criminal, there would be decent women thrown your way all the time, so that all you had to do was play that part of being respectable, and a wife would be guaranteed.

Oh, how the times have changed ...

 

[Identikit_Radiohead]

We need to use his real life, not some persona in a movie. He married Kathryn Metz in 1947, they met when he was 21/22 in 1946, so before his fame. She was 8 years younger. So 15 her, and 23 him when they married.

Kathryn Metz aged in her early 30's. Looks slim, decent redhead. Not a model or anything. Don Knotts was 5ft7, wiry and a bit nerdy looking (he would be 38 in this picture).

No, he wouldn't get a woman like that today (before fame). lets be honest, not crapping on the guy or anything. Fame & money came later for him and he married other women after divorcing Kathryn in 1964.

This was my grandparents era, the men had it better. Vast majority of women weren't fat (average woman weighed 126lbs at 5ft3.5 in the 1950's, now its 171lbs in 2026!), spoke properly, had feminine etiquette, had babies when young. Different world today.

A young, non-famous guy who looks like Don Knotts and stands 5ft7 would have to SEAmax today to get a slim, normal wife.

 

[BaronOfHair]

@MatureDJ "The point is that, in the current era, would it be possible for any man of Knott's looks to get anything close to a gal like this?"

Spend more than 15 minutes out in the fresh air each day, and discover the truth for yourself, hombre. Pondering such subjects in your own mind exclusively is less productive than a guy who endlessly ruminates on the thought:

"Am I too unattracive to carve out a successful career as an actor?"

All the while ignoring the existence of performers like Wallace Shawn, who's phones have been ringing for the past several decades